


False Smiles

by katikat



Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: Episode Related, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-29
Updated: 2017-12-29
Packaged: 2019-02-23 13:00:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 930
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13190616
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katikat/pseuds/katikat
Summary: Patricia Thornton is a dangerous woman. Or, Bozer finds out what Mac did for him in episode 109. Bozer’s POV. (Unbeta'd)





	False Smiles

**Author's Note:**

> Regarding Bozer’s employment, I thought that Patty gave in way too easily...

Bozer knocks hesitantly on the door of Patricia Thornton’s office at the Phoenix Foundation headquarters and waits for her response before sticking his head in. “Ms. Thornton? Do you have a minute?” he asks her.

Thornton lifts her eyes from the paperwork on her desk and furrows her brows in confusion, seeing who it is. “Bozer? Yes, of course, come in.”

Slipping in, he closes the door behind him. The office is big - and its glass walls make it seem even bigger, giving it an open, airy feel - so it takes him a while to cross it and the thick gray carpet muffles his steps. When he finally comes to a stop directly in front of her big desk, also made of glass, he says haltingly, “I-I wanted to thank you.”

Now her eyebrows shoot up as her confusion deepens. “Thank me?” she asks, uncertainly.

Bozer nods. “Yes. For, you know, giving me a job instead of locking me up and throwing away the key like you probably wanted to?” He smiles nervously and shuffles his feet. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, I  _am_ the one  _completely_ innocent party here. I haven’t done  _anything_ wrong. Still, I get that you could’ve made my life so much harder for me, if you had wanted to.”

For a moment, she just stares at him. She doesn’t smile, she doesn’t even blink. She sits there completely motionless, almost statue-like. It’s actually quite creepy. At least in Bozer’s opinion. He feels like a prey in the sight of a predator.

Then Thornton sets her pen aside slowly and clasps her hands together on the desk in front of her, leaning against her elbows. “Bozer,” she says, and though her voice isn’t  _unkind_ , it also doesn’t sound really  _friendly_. “Let’s get one thing clear from the start: I do think you’ll be an asset for this company and I do like you, personally–”

Bozer brightens. “You do?”

Her eyes narrow a little at his interruption, so he shuts up quickly.

“ _But_ ,” she continues and this time, her voice seems harder, harsher, threaded with something darker, more…  _dangerous_ , “I would  _not_ have gone so easy on you, nowhere near so, if Mac hadn’t pressed the issue.”

Now it’s Bozer’s turn to frown in confusion. “Mac? How so?”  _What is she talking about? What did Mac do?_

“As I said, I don’t doubt you’ll prove to be valuable to us, one way or another - but it’s  _MacGyver_ who’s indispensable for this company. And he threatened to quit if I didn’t back off. And when my choice was between losing my best agent or gaining a new lab technician?” She pauses to emphasize her words, “Then it was no choice at all.”

Bozer blinks. “Mac threatened to quit?”

He didn’t know that. Mac didn’t say anything. Bozer guesses he should be used to it by now, to Mac keeping things from him, but this? He would’ve really walked out? Wow. Bozer’s mind’s blown.

“Yes, he did,” Thornton confirms with a disapproving pinch to her lips.

“And that was enough for you to not just let me go but hire me, too?” Bozer asks in utter disbelief.

Thornton sighs. “Bozer, I don’t think you truly grasp how important Mac is for the Phoenix Foundation. We have many agents in the field but not one of them is anything like Angus MacGyver. I know that until a few days ago, you only saw him as some ‘think tank’ employee but I can assure you that he’s  _not_. No other agent of ours has his or her own security detail and there’s a reason for that.”

Huh, until this moment, that didn’t even occur to Bozer. He can’t help but  _still_ think of Jack Dalton as nothing more than a goofy co-worker of Mac’s. True, he’s always found it odd that someone like Jack would work for a _think tank_ but… not once did the idea that he might actually be Mac’s  _bodyguard_ cross his mind!

“Mac’s a…  _specialist_ ,” Thornton continues. “A man of…  _exceptional_ skills, sent to deal with…  _extraordinary_ situations. He’s the best at what he does and, yes, that carries weight. And he threw that weight behind you, Bozer. He vouched for you. He put his own credibility on the line - for you. I would advise you not to forget that.  _Ever_. And to think twice before you do anything…  _unwise_.” She looks at him pointedly. “Is that understood?”

Bozer swallows hard because Thornton’s eyes, they seem all-seeing to him. He can’t help but feel that she’s reading his most private thoughts, that she knows  _everything_ about him. And she probably does, considering. In spite of himself, he shivers, feeling exposed.

“Understood,” he replies softly.

Then, all of a sudden, Thornton smiles and the demanding harshness is gone from her eyes, hidden once again behind a curtain of pleasantness. That feels even creepier to Bozer. It’s like a game of “good cop, bad cop” but with just one person playing both parts.

“Welcome to Phoenix Foundation, then, Mr. Bozer. I’m sure we’ll get along  _wonderfully_ ,” Thornton says amiably as she gets up and reaches out across her desk.

Bozer shakes her hand and her firm grip, cold yet dry, makes him shiver again. “Thank you,” he says, trying to return her smile and failing.

And as he then hurries down the stairs back to his new lab, Bozer’s not sure if he actually likes this world his best friend inhabits, a world full of false smiles and easy deception. Maybe, just maybe, ignorance truly was a bliss.


End file.
